19. February 2008 09:52
Roger Jowell, the founder of the European Social Survey, gets knighted for contribution in social science
Professor Roger Jowell, the co-founder and director of the European Science Foundation (ESF)- conceived European Social Survey (ESS), was recently awarded a knighthood by the Queen of England for his contribution to the social science field. The ESS was the first methodologically consistent study into various European countries’ different social values, attitudes, attributes and behaviour patterns.
The decoration “is a mark of appreciation towards the social sciences, which is of a timely nature given that such honours have more traditionally gone to the natural sciences, ” commented Jowell, a Research Professor at City University London and Founder Director of its Centre for Comparative Social Surveys.
The ESS initiative, which was spawned from the ESF’s Research Network Programme Beliefs in Government, was designed as a tool to facilitate key European policy debates. The main objective of the survey is to tackle the difficulties of producing reliable data in a cross-national, cross-cultural context. The ESS has already garnered recognition from the science field after winning the EC’s Descartes Prize in December 2005. The Descartes prize, Europe’s top annual science award, which amounts to one million Euros, honours the scientific excellence in research. It was the first time social sciences were awarded the prize.
Prior to his current post, Professor Jowell was the Director of the National Centre for Social Research, which he started in 1969 and helped build into Britain’s largest social research institute. He is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, an academician of the Academy for Social Sciences and was awarded a CBE in 2001 for services to social science. He is a recent vice-president of the UK’s Royal Statistical Society.
Professor Jowell’s main research output has been in the field of social and political attitude monitoring and survey methods. He founded and directed the British Social Attitudes Survey from 1983 to 2001 and co-directed the British Election Studies from 1983 to 2000. He was the founding chair of the International Social Survey Programme from 1984 to 1989. He has been the principal investigator of the European Social Survey since its inception in 2001, chairing its Central Co-ordinating Team, and - prior to that - the Methodology Committee which crafted its design. His writing has focused primarily on social and political values, social change, voting behaviour and survey methods. His publications include a textbook on survey research, 18 edited books on British Social Attitudes and four co-authored books on British electoral behaviour.
More information about the ESS
More information about the ESS
The European Social Survey (ESS) is a unique survey that aims to explain changes in Europe’s social, political and moral climate. Its research methods exhibit unprecedented ways to interpret in depth facts about changes in social structures within European societies. It is funded jointly by the European Commission; the European Science Foundation (ESF) and national funding bodies in each country.
The main challenge for the ESS has been to tackle head-on the notorious difficulties of producing reliable data in a cross-national, cross-cultural context. This challenge has been met with an innovative approach: The first round of the project was launched in 2002 and a core ESS questionnaire was designed to cover numerous topics and to produce a unique record over time of underlying attitude shifts throughout Europe. The data produced aims to fulfill one major key objective of the research project, which is to aid governance at a national- and a European level.
The European Social Survey (the ESS) is an academically-driven social survey designed to chart and explain the interaction between Europe's changing institutions and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations. Now moving into its fourth round, the survey covers over 30 nations and employs the most rigorous methodologies. The survey has been funded through the European Commission’s fifth and sixth Framework Programme, the European Science Foundation and national funding bodies in each country.
The ESS is also among the first social science projects to receive funding to support its infrastructure and in 2005 was awarded Europe’s top annual science award, the Descartes prize.
The project is directed by a Central Co-ordinating Team led by Roger Jowell at the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys, City University. The six other partners are:
- Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen (GESIS-ZUMA), Germany
- Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD), Norway
- Katholike Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
- Social and Cultural Planning Office (SCP), Netherlands
- ESADE, Universitat Ramon Llull, Spain
- University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
For further information on Professor Roger Jowell, please click here
For further information on the European Social Survey, please click here
Media contact:
- Sir Roger JowellE-Mail
